I want 5 guys - Quiero Cinco Hombres

What I said, sounded great but it also didn’t reflect the truth.

There are similar things that happen in the church. We say things that sound great on the surface, but they’re just not things that God ever said. The moment we buy into and hold onto a saying that isn’t something that reflects the heart of God we run into some real dangers.

When the part that’s untrue begins to reveal itself it...

Damages our view of God

Damages our confidence in God

Steals our joy and peace

We’re spending some tim correcting some of these over the next few weeks.

God just wants me happy

Happy first theology - Above all else, God wants me to be happy

Happiness is a good thing. God wants you to be happy. But the moment we believe He wants us to be happy above all else we run into some major challenges.

If I’m not happy, God must be mad at me

I did something wrong — I’m not good enough — I have to try harder

“Happy wife, happy life” — If I can keep God happy, God will keep me happy

If I’m not happy, God didn’t do His part.

God let me down

Cosmic coke machine — I inserted my prayer, devotional, went to church but God didn’t give me what I wanted

I did my part, but God didn’t do His

People walk away from God based on something He never said

Is just as ridiculous as if my wife would have left me cause I don’t know Spanish

Because they’ve lost trust in

Didn’t see the benefit of following

Felt like they weren’t good enough

God does want us to be happy

I truly believe God delights in our happiness

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 10

10 A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.

zōē - The condition of living or the state of being alive; especially healthiness, happiness, exuberance, energy, vitality, and the like.

What God doesn’t want for us is this “happy first” theology because then something other than God is shaping our life.

Happy first theology causes us to...

Trade the principles of God for the temporary pleasure of happiness

This plays itself out in 2 ways

1. If it makes me happy, it must be right

Tick removal - I thought I was helping but was actually causing more damage

When we begin chasing happiness we justify doing things that causes more harm

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 14

12 There is a way that seems right to a person,

but its end is the way to death.

Happy first theology blurs the line between Happiness and Holiness

We being doing things that make us feel good while simultaneously destroying the things we love

Addiction — affair — career — years in prison

Sin is fun. Sin is also deadly. - Jeremiah 17:9

Happiness is a terrible compass because it will lead us towards destruction with a smile on our face.

It’s like the mouse heading towards the cheese in a mouse trap — It’s like the fish headed towards the worm on a hook

2. Anything that makes me unhappy must not be God’s will

Michael Jordan hit 9 game winning buzzer beaters

Michael Jordan missed 12,345 shots, including 26 potential game winners

If those misses (moments of unhappiness) kept him from taking those 9 critical shots he would have never experienced the exhilarating moments of those great accomplishments

How many great things is a moment of unhappiness or a fear of unhappiness keeping us from walking into?

As a Christian, there are a lot of times God asks us to do something that’s terrifying.

Peter walking on water

Chasing happiness will keep us from ever walking into those moments.

It will also cause us to give up on what could be great but just isn’t right now.

We bail when it gets difficult.

6 month follow up on premarital counselling.

I know that we all have a tendency to question our commitment when things get challenging

In marriage — work — spiritual walk

We walk away and give up some something that could be great simply because it’s not great right now.

I want to remind people

Happiness isn’t what caused you to do what you were doing, what you were doing is what caused you to be happy

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 5

6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

for they will be filled.

makarios - Characterized by happiness and being highly favored

“For they will be filled”

God does want us happy. But He wants us to have a happiness that isn’t fleeing. Something that lasts longer than a moment and leaves us hungry for the next moment.

It doesn’t come from hunger for happiness. It comes from hunger for righteousness.

righteousness: Adherence to what is required according to a standard;

It’s this idea of keeping things in their appropriate order. Not valuing something more than we should.

Happiness isn’t the goal. Happiness is the byproduct.

Idolatry at its most basic definition is when we elevate someone/something to a higher value & authority in our life than God.

St. Augustine says the challenge of living the holy lives we desire is a matter of disordered love.

This is what makes spotting these idols in our life so challenging. Because it’s not that they’re bad things. They’re often times good things. These good things in our life become bad when we make them ultimate things. When they get too high on our list. When we love them in the order they were never meant to be loved in and they always cause us to make sacrifices in order to have them.

This is why pursuing the gifts of God apart from God is never going to fulfill us. They always leave us hungry for more.

We will never enjoy the gifts from God to their fullest potential until we view them as an added pleasure in life instead of a necessity for life.

The moment they become ultimate, must haves, we start molding our life around getting more of them

Colossians 1:15-16

We cannot enjoy the gifts from God apart from God. Because we were not created for those things. We were created for God.

If you put a fish on the shore, it doesn’t matter what you give it or what it has. It will never find pleasure in anything because it’s not where it belongs. It wasn’t created to be on the shore. We were not created for the things that promise happiness, we were created for God. - Max Lucado

Is the pursuit of happiness causing you make decisions that are leading to destruction?

Is the desire for happiness causing you to give up on something that may not be great right now, but could be later?

Is the fear of unhappiness keeping you from walking into something that could be great?

Does happiness have more control over the decisions you make than God?